Almost fresh from marriage and permanent residency, international jet-setter Dan Willis (MC of The Best of British Comedy) brings his unique take on the serious matters of trans-hemisphere relationships, racist cheese, global positioning and the crudeness of Australian slang to this year’s comedic Fringe line-up.
Australia: A Whinging Poms Guide is no-holds-barred soliloquy which batters both raw nerves and old-school-tie customs into submission.
Not for the faint of heart or patriotic, Willis ramrods his way through a one-hour set like a one-man battalion, completely ignoring the Geneva Convention and the two-party-preferred system.
While some of the jibes, especially regarding dear old Adelaide, are out of date, Willis’s eye-in-the-sky and ear-to-the-ground encapsulate the best and worst of the auld Anglo-Antipodean love-hate relationship, while his casual lounge-room style and quick-fire ad-libbing grab an audience and take it home – or at the least to the bar.
Not to be fazed by twin-engined planes, hecklers, bogans or even “Ferogans” (his own contribution to the national archive), Willis paints an Archibald with words, often four-letter ones, and then feeds it to a salt-water crocodile.
Despite its need of fine-tuning, air-conditioning and some updating, the Whinging Poms Guide is delivered by a not-so-whinging Pom with a thong in either camp.
Performing until March 14 on PJ O’Brien’s Balcony, Willis is well worth a drive-by, even if he wears an England football shirt.